Truth & Rumors: Tiger says Tour pros should be penalized for slow play

The issue of slow play has become even more prominent following the Players Championship and the circus sideshow that was Kevin Na. Following his round on Sunday, Tiger Woods spoke out against the slow pace of play bogging down PGA Tour events, reports Ryan Ballengee.

Asked Sunday to assess the pace of play on the PGA Tour compared to four years ago, Woods simply said, "Worse.""Last week, we were playing 4:40 (on Thursday and Friday at Quail Hollow) and there's no wind. That's hard to believe."It was worse than Woods thought. He took 4 hours, 52 minutes to play on Friday before missing the cut at the Wells Fargo Championship.

"College has gotten just incredibly slow," he said. "It's so bad that now they are giving the guys the ability to use lasers to try to speed up play. And they're still playing in 5:45, six hours plus."

"I think it's very simple," he said. "If you get a warning, you get a penalty. I think that would speed it up."With the difference between first and second place this week costing $684,000, Woods rejects the Tour's existing system of fining players between $5,000 and $20,000 for consistent pace of play violations."Strokes is money," he said. "I would take the five grand (fine) over the 800K. That's one shot. That's the difference. That's what people don't realize – that one shot is so valuable out here."

Charles Barkley, possessor of arguably the most agonizing-looking swing by any golf-playing athlete, sent a text to Roger Maltbie late Saturday night: "Kevin Na is my hero. Welcome to my world."

"We hear guys talking about needing swing coaches, sports psychologists, fitness instructors or changing managers. He needs an exorcist. I half expect winged bulls to fly out of his head when he is standing over a shot. I'm not sure if Sigmund Freud were alive he could figure this one out."

"This is as serious as I've seen," said longtime golf writer Garry Smits of the Florida Times-Union, a newsgathering partner of First Coast News. "You just don't see that amount of blood for a golf ball hit and this case, it was pretty bad."

"Well, after getting hit I feel fine and I think it was more of a glancing blow and not quite a direct hit," Meredith said. "So, a lot of blood but not a lot of pain."